Nobuko Imai is considered to be one of the most outstanding violists of our time. After finishing her studies at the Toho School of Music, Yale University, and the Juilliard School, she won the highest prizes at both the Munich and the Geneva International Competitions. As violist of the Michelangelo String Quartet and former member of the Vermeer Quartet, Ms. Imai combines a distinguished international solo career, appearing with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Chicago Symphony, along with teaching positions at the Amsterdam and Geneva Conservatories, Kronberg Academy, and Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo. Ms. Imai has recorded for BIS, Philips, Chandos, EMI, and Deutsche Grammaphone, among others, and most recently received acclaim for her CD, which includes works she has premiered, including Toru Takemitsu’s Viola Concerto, “A String Around Autumn,” as well as her Deutsche Grammaphone recording of the Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio, with Julian Rachlin and Mischa Maisky. She returns to Japan several times a year, to perform as soloist and notably for the annual “Viola Space” project, which she founded in 1992 and where she now serves as Artistic Adviser.